Flormar-Turkey worker won legal case against company

As the struggle of Flormar workers who had been fired for getting unionised continues, one of those workers named Serdar Yıldırım won the legal case he opened against Flormar Turkey. The court ruled that Yıldırım is to be reinstated his position at the factory, and that he will be given 4 gross pays and 5 net pays.

Speaking to soL news, Serdar Yıldırım noted that he was fired in November 2017 under the pretext of "low performance" after Flormar workers started to get unionised. Yıldırım added that Flormar blamed Yıldırım for a manufacturing defect and used it as a pretext for firing him.

Before he was fired, Yıldırım had been the department chief of production stores for five years. "Our salaries were very low but we were not being treated as humans, most importantly. We were being humiliated all the time and they used to say 'how can you do such a mistake!' and 'is this the proper way to do this!' instead of trying to train us.

Noting that he decided to get unionised after seeing that things are not going well at the factory for the workers, Yıldırım said that he called on his co-workers to get organised.

'THEY TRIED TO INTIMIDATE OTHER WORKERS BY FIRING ME'

Yıldırım said that the new chiefs at the workplace tried to intimidate the other workers by firing him, as they attempted to accuse him of an occupational fault at a night shift although he was not responsible for the alleged fault. He rejected to sign the chiefs' report that tried to lay the blame on him. "I won't sign the related paper, I'll go to the court," he told the chiefs. Following his rejections to sign the accusing report, his labour contract was cancelled on November 20.

During the legal process, he managed to recover his damages and then filed a suitcase for being reinstated. "I proved that the two witnesses of the employer had made false statements," he said, adding that the administrators tried to fire him although he had been awarded with quality product prizes several times for his professional successes at the workplace.

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR CONFESSED: 'FIRED FOR UNIONISATION'

Talking about the legal process that had started in December, Yıldırım said that as one of the witnesses asked the production director about the reason of dismissal, the director indicated to Yıldırım's membership to a trade union.

"The case has been concluded today. I will be reinstated. 'The reason of dismissal is not just,' says the report of an expert who visited the factory and detected my job. I am entitled to receive 4 net and 5 gross salaries," he told soL.

In answer to whether he has any message to his co-workers, Yıldırım said, "All the workers are lions, they are doomed to be exploited as long as they don't realize their strength," calling on the workers to unite both for today and the future against the employers' oppression.

The workers of Flormar, a subsidiary of worldwide French cosmetics brand Yves Rocher, had been fired for unionising on May 2018. Since that day, fired workers has been resisting for 146 days in front of the Flormar factory in Kocaeli province Turkey.